The Ultimate Thanksgiving Leftover Plan

Recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers

Leftovers are the single best reason to host Thanksgiving. If you play your cards right and make way too much food, the day-after meal can be far more rewarding than the holiday feast. At Tim Love's home in Fort Worth, Texas, the chef turns his scraps into a fiery Tex-Mex spread. "I like to mix it up a little bit," he says. "I make enchiladas, quesadillas, chilaquiles with fried eggs and pulled turkey meat." Patrick Mould whips up a turkey-based gumbo every year. Some prefer a rich turkey soup, while for many others – the impulse to lounge trumping the draw of the kitchen – the optimum day-after lunch is actually the least labor-intensive: the sort of big, heaping turkey sandwich Homer Simpson might make. Put whatever you like inside: some mashed or sweet potatoes to bind the sandwich; cranberries for a sweet and salty zing. Or don't. The point is, the day-after sandwich is your big opportunity to revisit the best of yesterday's meal.

Clark Frasier, chef at Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, pares his sandwich down to meat only (with mayo, pickles, mustard, and lettuce). "I don't need cranberries on my sandwich," he says.

Or if you're willing to put in a bit more effort, take some advice from Chicago chef Graham Elliot. He makes bread pudding from stuffing. When firmed up and sliced, it serves as the bread. Add turkey, chestnuts, turkey jus mayo, pickled yams, and cranberry relish.